Lets talk about race

“The ink is black and the paper is white together we learn how to read and write…”  Biz Markie from “Erase Racism” 1992

Dennis Conti and Trudy McFall are not villians.  They are doing what is desperately needed based upon the information that they have, which a lion share has been received firsthand from extensive time in the Clay Street Community.  They are leveraging extensive resources and taking a considerable amount of time out of their own lives to create a safer Clay Street for everyone.

Belinda McGowan is not wrong to be distrusting.  Ms. McGowan is well within her rights to be distrusting of what is going on with public housing, she can use history as a guide for her distrust.  She can point back as far as the days of the slave trade and most recently the “urban removal” period in Annapolis to support her argument.  In a court of law they call that precedence.  

In a letter to the editor of the Capital last week Belinda made unfair remarks about Dennis Conti and Trudy McFall.  However unfair, if you removed the personal attacks; Belinda’s commentary speaks volumes.  The inappropriate slander of Conti and McFall hurt the real issue that she was looking to convey to the general public and should not be missed.  It is a similar message that we have been speaking about here very often on ILiveOnClayStreet.com.  It is an age old issue, one that has not gone away in the silly era of political correctness: black people don’t trust white people and white people don’t trust black people.

That is at the core of everything that is going on in the Clay Street Community.  There is a lack of understanding between the two cultures that can be highlighted in the subject of homeownership.  The white side of the equation talks of the freedoms enjoyed with owning your own and all the pride associated with that home.   The black side that has been in public housing for several generations doesn’t identify with the feelings highlighted by the white side because there is no precedence. In their own circles there are very few to give them the hope and show them the way of attaining homeownership and instead a sense of resentment builds.  

So, where Conti and McFall are doing tremendous work that when completed will create a much more desirable place for all residents, it is also serving to build some resentment.  It is going to take time for that resentment to dissipate.  The only way to speed that process is through communication and I don’t mean some seminars about the benefits of home ownership at the local church.  I mean putting white people and black people in a room and beginning to discuss what’s on their minds. 

Blacks don’t trust whites because there is a history of theft amongst them, and whites are tired of carrying a burden that they shared none of the process but, all of the blame.

We need to get talking because the rest of the world is not waiting for us, the Chinese, the Indians (and that’s the people in India), the people of many of the Middle Eastern countries, the Russians, the Brazillians, they are all lining up to come and eat Americans for lunch.

United we stand, divided we fall.

Belinda, ultimately you are right we need to step up and save our communities and Clay Street is a metaphor for the United States.  We need to wake up and start talking.

Someone cue: “ERASE RACISM” by Biz Markie

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Posted in September 2007